According to this Reuters report, Apple is now complying with local warranty laws in Italy after the company was threatened by the Italian government with shut downs of its local businesses and hefty fines if it did not comply. Last week Apple stopped selling its AppleCare warranty plans in its retail stores in Italy. The paid warranty program from Apple offers coverage after the limited warranty on an Apple product expires.

Apple may have to shut down its stores in Italy for 30 days, according to this BBC report. Apple's troubles stem from warranties and disclosing them properly to customers in Italy - a problem that earned them a 900,000 euros fine in late 2011. Instead of that standard warranty, Apple has been telling customers about its own paid-for service contract.

A new law being introduced by Italian politicians wants to crack down on citizens who are even accused of copyright infringement. The draft of the law would require ISPs to "blacklist" any citizens suspected of copyright, patent or trademark infringement. If ISPs are not compliant with the law, they could be held liable under civil law. Everybody gets a spanking equally under the law apparently.

Families who have lost loved ones to the Mafia are fighting against Mafia II, One of those people, Sonia Alfano, lost her father to the mob on January 18, 1993. She has come out against the video game Mafia II, saying that it trivializes the violence and murder committed by organized crime. Alfano's words carry a lot of weight because she is a member of the European Parliament. She is fighting to get the game banned in Europe. She is also the president of Italy’s association for the families of Mafia victims.

"It really, really hurts," Alfano, recently said in an interview. "We can’t allow this to happen, our wounds are still too fresh."

Last week she asked the European Commission to consider banning the game.

The Metro compares the Italian initiative to a “fact-finding” mission—to local strip clubs—suggested by members of the UK’s Cornwall Council. Council members wanted to see what kind of “impact” the clubs had on local economies and neighborhoods.

Piazza del Campo is a historic space in Siena, Italy, famous for being the scene of a biannual bareback horse race named the Palio di Siena. The use of the space as a cart track in the upcoming Gran Turismo 5 however, as illustrated in the accompanying video, has angered at least one Italian official.

Kotaku reports that Anna Carli, CEO of the Consortium for the Protection of the Palio is reaching out to Sony officials in order to resolve this dispute.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni (pictured), who in the past has readily admitted to downloading music illegally, reiterated that he still obtains music in this fashion and also criticized France’s “three-strikes” policy against file-sharers.

Maroni, who is in a band himself, first admitted to pirating music back in 2006, and defended the practice by saying that it’s not the same as stealing from a supermarket, according to an article on Torrent Freak.

Maroni added:

It is as if the owner of this computer where I’m going to take the music from did a copy of a CD he bought and gave it to me, something that normally happens when we buy a CD and make copies for our friends.

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am

Michael Chandra: Argh. Anyway, I'm glad that move was made. Wonder if it counts, can he just declare it like that? 03/31/2015 - 9:27am

Zen: Conster - Good, it's a BS law that exists to just allow hate basically. Glad people are standing up to it. Sadly it should never have passed to begin with though.03/31/2015 - 8:39am

Zen: Nintendo Direct tomorrow it seems. Funny it will be on April 1st lol. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-announced-for-tomorrow03/31/2015 - 8:38am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.destructoid.com/chris-charla-would-love-to-see-no-man-s-sky-on-xbox-one-289761.phtml Apparently Microsoft's famous "parity clause" doesn't apply if they thing your game will make them tons of money.03/31/2015 - 8:00am

Conster: Basically, he's claiming there's a state statute that allows him to invoke section 2 of SB101 and be exempt from it.03/31/2015 - 5:48am

Conster: "..military service veteran status, and any breach of this policy shall continue to be considered a material breach of the relationship with the City."03/31/2015 - 5:09am